11S - Translation Errors

I read a very interesting article recently at Tourism-Review.com and I’d like to share it with you. It’s called “Translation Errors Cost 120 Million Euros for E-Tourism in France Alone”

“Sixty-five percent of travel sites in France contain blunders or translation errors, according to the latest study by TextMaster, professional translation services, as well as writing and editing online content is estimated at over a 120 million euro loss each year.

“Our top stay,” “Challenger Destination,” “Acceptable Use Policy,” “Speedy Rental,” “Some Useful Informations,” and “Well-Being Expect For You” are all expressions found on the pages of travel sites.

The E-Tourism sector is worth €18.5 Billion in France. With a conversion rate that is increased to 70% when a site is completely multilingual, it is estimated the industry loses more than €120 million annually because of bad translations or flagrant errors: “Multilingualism is fundamental for a tourism site that aims, in essence, to reach for an international audience. But sometimes it’s the best translations that are the enemy, and it’s better to translate a site poorly into 40 languages than excellently into 5-10 languages,“ says Thibault Lougnon TextMaster CEO. The study also reveals that 58% of these sites have non-translated texts, i.e. phrases in French in the English version and English expressions in the French version. Finally, 33% of French travel sites have no English translation at all.”

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